Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith
| Dr. Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith | |
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| Born | Jane Goldsmith 27 March 1953 London, England |
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Dr. Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith is a British-Ghanaian feminist activist, Doctor of Law, and writer known by her work as an activist and consultant.
In 1975 she was the first woman of colour to be elected President of Leicester University Student’s Union,[1] while in 2001 she became the first woman of colour to be elected Chair of the Fawcett Society.[1]
During her career she has acted as Commissioner for the Women's National Commission, Chair and Co-Founder of the Gender and Development Network, Vice-Chair of ActionAid UK, a Trustee of the Equality and Diversity Forum (now known as Equally Ours) and a member of the UK Government delegation to the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995.[2] After reconnecting with her Ghanaian father and heritage in her 30s, she was enstooled[3] as Queen Mother of Development of her village in Cape Coast, Ghana, in 2009 and adopted her Ghanaian name, Esuantsiwa, as her first name.
Early life and education[edit]
Born Jane Goldsmith to a Ghanaian father and English mother, Goldsmith grew up within her mother’s white, working-class family. She moved around the UK with her family, attending two primary schools and four secondary schools in London,[4] Kingston-upon-Thames, Stafford and rural Norfolk.[5]
From 1972-1975, Goldsmith studied for her degree at Leicester University, gaining a BA honours in Humanities. She was the first woman of colour to be elected president of Leicester University Student's Union, 1975-6.[6] After her sabbatical year as president, she studied for a Post Graduate Certificate of Education at Leicester University School of Education 1976-7. She then volunteered as an English teacher for two years with Voluntary Service Overseas in Tanzania from 1977-79.[7]
Career[edit]
After her two year service with VSO, Goldsmith was elected to the Voluntary Service Overseas Board of Trustees (1980-82) to represent Returned Volunteers. From 1980-1988 she worked for the World University Service, where she established the women’s Rights and Education programme. In 1989 she became a founder member of the staff team at Womankind Worldwide. She was founder staff member of the National Alliance of Women’s organisations 1990-95, and was chair of the biennial Oxfam Assembly 1994–1998.
In 1995 Goldsmith founded Anona Development Consultancy to work internationally with not-for-profit organisations, and in 2001 was the lead consultant and strategist for a National Programme Against Violence Against Women funded by DFID in South Africa. She was elected trustee of the Equality and Diversity Forum (now named Equally Ours) 2012–2014 and convener of the ActionAid International Assembly in 2015. She was ActionAid UK Trustee and Vice Chair from 2007-2014.[8]
Feminist Activist[edit]
Goldsmith was the Founder and Co-ordinator of the Women and the ‘Third World’ Working Group at Returned Volunteer Action (RVA), 1980-85. She was founder/Chair of the Gender and Development (GAD) Network (1986-89), writing its first constitution and leading the INGO Delegation in discussions with politicians and senior civil servants on Women’s Rights policy at the Department for International Development.
She was a member of the UK Government delegation to the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, representing INGOs, and she was the founder and Chair of the Beijing Forum 1994-6, co-ordinating INGO input to the World Conference. In 2001 she became the first woman of colour to be elected Chair of the Fawcett Society,[9] a post she held until 2003.
She is a former Commissioner for the Women’s National Commission, (Public Appointment Cabinet Office) 2003-5[10] where she chaired the Diversity and Equality Committee, and was the lead facilitator in a nationwide consultation on Violence Against Women and Girls. In 2006 she co-designed and led the training for the Women’s Budget Group Voices of Women Project, working with low income women’s groups in London, Birmingham and Cardiff.
From 2001 - 3 Goldsmith was Trustee of Akina Mama wa Afrika 2001-3 and delivered Feminist Leadership training for Iraqi and Afghan Women, and for women in Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa and the UK. She taught Gender training on the MA Gender and Development Course (2004-7) at Sussex University Institute of Development Studies.
She chaired the CEDAW (United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) 30th Anniversary conference (2010) bringing together over 100 Women’s Rights activists from across the globe (One World Action and Womankind Worldwide),[11] and was Ambassador, trainer and strategic planner for the Women’s Resource Centre 2012-19.
Publications[edit]
During the 1980s, Goldsmith wrote, co-authored and contributed to a number of published reports on women’s rights in education for World University Service.[12][13] She co-authored the published report, It Ain’t Half Sexist, Mum! Women as Overseas Students in the United Kingdom, by Jane Goldsmith and Valerie Shawcross, (World University Service and UK Council for Overseas Student Affairs 1985).[14]
Goldsmith has written published reports and articles on black women and the European community and in rural areas in the UK;[15] women overseas students and refugees; women, education and development; and briefings, articles, training manuals and online toolkits on women’s rights, for Womankind and Women’s Resource Centre, the United Nations and the Beijing Women’s Conference.
She contributed a series of eight articles to the online publication opendemocracy (2010–2011) for their sections On the Move and 50/50, covering migration and women’s equality topics.[2]
| “ | There's never been so many black people in this room. But we belong in these spaces. | ” |
| — Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith, speaking at London Library in 2019[16] | ||
Goldsmith's memoir ‘The Space Between Black and White’ was published in 2020 by Jacaranda Books during the Twenty in 2020 campaign.[17][18][19] [16]
Honours[edit]
Goldsmith was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by Leicester University (2015)[20][21] and in 2018 Leicester University unveiled a portrait of her as the first woman and the only woman of colour to be elected President of Leicester University Students’ Union.[22] It is one of three new portraits, of women, by women, commissioned by the University for its Portraits First project.[23] This marked the first time that women featured among the portraits in the otherwise all-male line up of Chancellors around the walls of the Council Chamber. The unveiling celebrated International Women’s Day on 8th of March and the centenary of the women’s vote in 1918.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Jane Eswuantsiwa Goldsmith, BA Combined Studies, 1975 | Alumni | University of Leicester". le.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Author Page, Jane Esuantsiwa Goldsmith". openDemocracy. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
- ↑ "Jane Esuantsiwa Goldsmith Queen Mother of Development Ceremony - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ↑ The Space Between Black and White (Paperback) Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith www.foyles.co.uk, accessed 18 November 2020
- ↑ The Space Between Black And White www.bookandkulture.com, accessed 18 November 2020
- ↑ "Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith | About | University of Leicester". le.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ↑ #803 FiLiA meets Esua Jane Goldsmith filia.org.uk, accessed 18 November 2020
- ↑ "Action Aid Trustees Reports and Accounts 2013" (PDF). www.actionaid.org.uk. Retrieved 15 November 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "WATCH NOW: The Space Between Black and White: In Conversation with Esua Goldsmith - 29/07/2020 12:30:00". Fawcett Society. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ↑ "Annual Report of the Women's National Commission 2004-05" (PDF). cdn.atria.nl. Retrieved 15 November 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "International CEDAW conference: One World Action and Womankind Worldwide" (PDF). oneworldaction.org.uk. Retrieved 15 November 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "ISBN 9780906405604 > Women in mind: the educational needs of women refugees in the UK by Valerie Shawcross, Kate Grosser, Jane Goldsmith, World University Service > Compare Discount Book Prices & Save up to 90% > ISBNS.co.tt". www.isbns.co.tt. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
- ↑ "ISBN 9780906405406 > Knowing Women: Women and Educational Alternatives World Wide by Jane Goldsmith (Editor), Third World First (Group), Mary Wright, World University Service (Uk) > Compare Discount Book Prices & Save up to 90% > ISBNS.co.tt". www.isbns.co.tt. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
- ↑ It ain't half sexist, Mum : women as overseas students in the UK www.worldcat.org, accessed 18 November 2020
- ↑ "Women and Sustainable Development – from Local to International Issues, by Fiona Reynolds and Jane Esuantsiwa Goldsmith" (PDF). www.unedforum.org. Retrieved 15 November 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Esua Jane Goldsmith speaks at the London Library". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 15 November 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Flood, Alison (2019-01-29). "Jacaranda reveals plans to publish 20 black British writers in 2020". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- ↑ "#Twentyin2020 is announced and it's quite the moment". Jacaranda Books. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
- ↑ "The Space Between Black and White". Jacaranda Books. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Jane Esuantsiwa Goldsmith - Honorary Degree - University of Leicester". youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-11-15. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Ms Jane Esuantsiwa Goldsmith (Doctor of Laws)". le.ac.uk. 2015-07-10. Retrieved 2020-11-15. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith | About | University of Leicester". le.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- ↑ "Getting more diversity on our walls and plinths is so important - now is the time for it to happen". Fawcett Society. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
External Links[edit]
- It Ain't Half Sexist Mum: Women as Overseas Students in the United Kingdom: Amazon
- Gender and Development Network
- Anona Development
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